Latins Start Anew With Parade Through Cetronia * The League Wants To Change Its Image By Being More Family Oriented And Less Combative.

June 13, 1998|by ERNIE LONG, The Morning Call

A new attitude, a new sense of purpose and a new home are what the Lehigh Valley Latin Soccer League is embracing this summer.

Long saddled with the stigma of being a league of talented players who can't control their temper, the Latin League has pledged to turn over a new leaf this year.

According to Coach Kevin Drake, the league -- which has taken up residence on the Lehigh County Soccer Fields after years of competition at Allentown's Fountain Park -- has acknowledged its shortcomings and wants area soccer fans to come out and witness its special brand of soccer minus the outbursts.

The league plans on turning its set of Sunday games into family festivals complete with food and merchandise tents as well as kids activities.

Proceeds will go toward starting up the Inner City Youth Soccer Association, a league for kids from Allentown that Drake hopes to have up and running by the fall.

It all starts with a parade through Cetronia at 11 a.m. Sunday. The route, according to Drake, will wind from Cetronia Elementary School west to the fields. Festivities will be held on site from noon until the first of three matches at 2 p.m.

The Grand Marshall of the parade, said Drake, will be Major League Soccer player Brian Kelly of the New York/New Jersey MetroStars.

Kelly, a Lake Lehman High School graduate and Parade Magazine "Player of the Year", played on club teams in Delaware County before making the U.S. National U-20 and U-23 teams. Kelly played college ball at Duke University and joined the MetroStars last season after being the No. 1 pick in the draft.

Also expected to participate in the event, said Drake, are area business and political leaders and various area youth and high school soccer teams and individual players.

Drake plans on having a headquarter for his youth league, complete with an on-site certified youth counselor downtown.

"The goal is to reach the kids, ages 5 through 9, and get them involved in soccer and keep them out of trouble," said Drake. "Once they get to be about 13, they're in trouble and are hard to turn around.

"We need to let everyone in the city's Latin community know how important it is. If we don't go in town and teach them teamwork and community relations, they're never going to do it. I want them to learn how to fund and run their own youth league. It's to their benefit."

The Latin League has had its share of trouble over the years, of which Drake knows all too well.

Yet, Drake said that the league has had numerous meetings since the end of last year and is determined to resolve the old problems.

"The main goal is to (improve) sportsmanship. There's nothing worse than loving a game so much and playing with great players, then not having them understand the team concept," he said. "It makes me sick to my stomach when they start swinging at each other or calling the ref names and take themselves out of the game."

According to Drake, however, the league has invited back players who had been kicked out in seasons past.

"I coach Team Olympia, which competes in the Inter-County and Lehigh Valley Summer Soccer Leagues, and I took the best of the worst players in sportsmanship and put them on my team.

"If you take the biggest bully on the block and make him the captain, then work with him on a daily basis, it cuts down interaction problems by 50 percent."